Faculty Exploratory Research Grants
Climate Change, Wildlife Corridors and Connectivity in the Western U.S.: Developing UA's Capacity for Assessment and Adaptation at Regional Scales
Lisa Graumlich, Professor and Director, School of Natural Resources
Grant: $10,000
Maintaining biodiversity in the context of a changing climate will require biodiversity management strategies beyond those of an individual park or preserve. The most important strategy will be leveraging our current system of nature reserves by creating corridors of connectivity between protected areas. Despite the importance of the network of parks and protected areas, an integrated database does not exist for identifying and mapping protected lands managed by federal, state, local, and private entities across the West. Without an explicit knowledge of the nature and extent of our network of protected areas, we cannot project the potential loss of species due to shifting ranges driven by climate change.
The purpose of this project is to develop a geospatial database that maps protected areas of different ownership and management status, such as parks, wilderness areas, forest management zones, wildlife refuges, state parks, and conserved private land, for the Rocky Mountain states. The database is not an end unto itself. Rather, it is a foundation to develop capacity at The University of Arizona to address a number of translational science questions regarding the effectiveness of currently protected areas for maintaining species diversity in the face of climate change.
In addition, the project will help position the UA to compete for the Western Governors Association’s proposed climate change and wildlife corridor assessment and monitoring center. Collaborators include Wildlife Conservation Society’s North America Program, the Nature Conservancy’s Climate Change Program, and the World Wildlife Fund.
In This Section
- Lisa Graumlich
Climate Change, Wildlife Corridors and Connectivity in the Western U.S.: Developing UA’s Capacity for Assessment and Adaptation at Regional Scales - Julia Cole
Spatial Patterns of Sedimentation on East African Reefs - Kathleen Lohse Blowers
Influence of Climate and Increased Variability of Precipitation on Coupled Water, Nutrient and Carbon Dynamics and Losses - Paul Blowers
Global Warming Potentials for Degradation Byproducts in the Atmosphere - Ed de Steiguer
Development of a Database and Website for State-Level Global Change Policy - Craig Rasmussen
Impact of Climate Variability on Soil Biogeochemistry Across a Semiarid Environmental Gradient in Saguaro National Park - Mitchell Pavao-Zuckerman
Developing an Urban Ecosystem Research Program in Tucson, AZ: Monitoring N-deposition and Ecosystem Health - Thomas Swetnam
Effects of Climate Variability on Fire Regimes in Mountains of the Great Basin, AD 1700 to Present